Domestic violence has been documented for a long time now. “Femicide” however wasn’t even coined until 1976 when writer Diane Russel used it at a convention in Belgium. Femicide by definition goes beyond crimes committed by former or current partners. It takes into mind violence against women conducted by any male that ends in death such as rape, honor killings, and any crime where the gender of the victim was a factor. Most of the time these ... Read More

Last night’s Grammys were full of moving performances, funny and awkward moments, and empowering red carpet interviews—but obviously here at BUST we were on the lookout for feminist moments, and we've narrowed it down to our top five.
This last year has shone a lot of light on domestic violence and assault issues, so we’re dedicating our first three moments to the three people that rose to the occasion about brought awareness and empathy ... Read More

Domestic violence. It is an unbelievably complicated issue. It seems like it should be easy—if you are being abused, leave your abuser—but it’s not.
Approaching abuse with that attitude is called victim blaming; it places the responsibility for resolving an abusive situation on the victim of the abuse, rather than holding the abuser responsible for his/her/zir actions.
Ending an abusive relationship is complicated. The ... Read More

Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was caught on camera, dragging the unconscious body of his girlfriend Janay Palmer out of an Atlantic City casino elevator. In the video, Palmer is limp, and though Rice tries repeatedly to prop her body up, she continues to fall to the ground.
Now he has been suspended for two games. I’m sorry, what? Two games? That is an insultingly brief suspension!
The NFL maintains that the punishment is, in fact, ... Read More

Sexual assault, rape, stalking, domestic violence, abuse and sexual coercion are all major problems in our society. They also happen too often, with 1 in 5 women reporting that they have been victims of rape or attempted rape, and 1 in 4 reporting having been beaten by a partner. What’s scary to me, though, isn’t just that statistic. It’s how many women I know who have realized what happened to them well after the fact.
In this study, the ... Read More

Last weekend, A Voice For Men, an online male activism site which was mentioned in the 2012 Southern Poverty Law Center intelligence report about misogynistic sites, hosted the first ever International Conference on Men’s Issues. Yep. Activists of all genders gathered to talk about the oppression of males in our society.
I’m honestly not sure how to react to this. I spend all day every day blogging about the oppression that women face on a ... Read More

Hopefully if you are reading this, you are close to the ground, safely seated, and at low risk for heart attacks and strokes, because I have the best news since nutella French toast became an acceptable breakfast choice. This Sunday, you better scarf down your brunch, because at 3 pm, the 8 hour long Law and Order SVU marathon commences.
This, however, is not the ordinary SVU run that can be commonly found on pretty much any channel at any time of the day. This ... Read More

Are you a human rights activist? While reading the paper, does your stomach churn in utter disgust at all the articles about the blatant disregard for human life? Do you live for truthful depictions of human struggles as captured in a two hour long motion picture? If the answer to all these questions is an impassioned YES, than it sounds like the 2014 Human Rights Watch Film Festival is for you!
Beginning on June 12th and lasting until June 22nd, the 2014 Human ... Read More

Fashion is a powerful form of self-expression. For better or worse, people make assumptions about our personality by how we present ourselves. We’re okay with parading around in oversized tees with cute cats shooting lasers out of their eyes, our favorite band’s merch, and basically being walking advertisements for brands, so why not make political statements with our dress? Instead of having a dead-end conversation about your love for ironically tacky ... Read More

In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention month, Mariska Hargitay, the beautiful, bad ass actor and activist famous for her role as Detective Olivia Benson, has joined forces with USA Network to say "NO MORE" to sexual assault and domestic violence.
In collaboration with Hargitay's foundation, Joyful Heart, the “No More” public awareness campaign, and the cast of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", USA will be holding a 16-hour "No More ... Read More